Need to know: Teacher strikes, exam ‘leak’ and broken buildings

In a week when the government was warned it could face strikes if it doesn’t give teachers a significant pay rise, one exam board was investigating a “leaked” A-level paper, a warning was issued about staff shortages and a Tes investigation revealed the challenges many schools face in getting funding to fix dilapidated buildings.

Catch up on your must-read Tes news and features articles from the past week right here:

News

• Strike threat: teacher unions prepared to ballot over pay
  The country’s two biggest teaching unions are considering balloting members over strike action if teachers are not awarded a significant pay increase amid the rising cost-of-living crisis.
   
• Zahawi: Teacher strike would be ‘unforgivable’ 
  In response to teaching unions warning of possible strike action over pay, the education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, said that awarding above-inflation pay rises would be “irresponsible” when the country is being affected by “war in Europe and supply chains recovering post-Covid”.
   
• AQA investigating A-level chemistry paper ‘leak’ 
  Exam board AQA has taken action in response to claims that an A-level chemistry paper was leaked before the exam took place on Monday.
   
• Is flexible working about to be made easier in schools? 
  The government has launched a plan to deliver a “culture change programme” to embed flexible working in schools and academy trusts, with the aim of improving staff recruitment and retention.
   
• Ofqual chief gives verdict on the first exams since Covid 
  Ofqual chief regulator Jo Saxton has given her initial views on how the first GCSE and A-level exams to be taken for two years have gone, and how she expects grading scales to evolve.
   
• Teacher job adverts up 14 per cent compared with before Covid
  Secondary schools’ advertised teacher vacancies have increased significantly compared with levels seen before the pandemic, and the proportion of schools unable to fill positions suggests “emerging signs” of a teacher shortage, a new report warns.

Features

• Revealed: Schools’ ‘soul-destroying’ bids to fix broken buildings 
  Hundreds of schools have been repeatedly knocked back for funding to fix dilapidated buildings, while others have had much more success. Callum Mason investigates why the application process for the Condition Improvement Fund is “not a level playing field”.
   
• How to teach students to write excellent sentences
  One teacher reveals her successful approach to improving students’ sentence structure by using the works of iconic writers as inspiration.
   
• Trans students: the legal risks for schools
  Some schools are in a “legally risky” position in terms of the support they are giving to trans students, warns one discrimination lawyer, who says that official government guidance is urgently needed.
   
• Are single-sex schools becoming a thing of the past?
  The number of single-sex schools is falling. Here Emma Seith examines the arguments for and against.
   
• What’s the difference between English and literacy?
  The line between English and literacy has become blurred in recent years - teachers need some clarity, says Megan Dixon.